NOT Specialty Coffee @ Wanchai

The Place

I’m still coming to terms with finding places in Hong Kong, but after almost two years in my new home, I thought I was getting better at finding places. That was until I tried to find NOT Specialty Coffee! I must have walked up and down Jaffe Road three or four times before I went and asked a building concierge for directions.

The trick was to wander down an internal building, the Sunshine Plaza, before finding the tiny little cafe backing onto the parallel street behind Jaffe Road. Weird.

NOT Specialty Coffee is practically all counter and back space, with a tiny little spot to sit in and drink your coffee. With a dark and understated vibe, I found the place to be instantly comfortable but just a little claustrophobic. I particularly liked that the main light emanated from the brightly lit N.O.T behind the counter and I loved the old style Edison lights; although they all didn’t appear to be on!

Mostly, I liked that the owner was super friendly and happy to chat about the shop, the coffee and life in general.

The Equipment

The space was dominated by a huge silver 3 group head Nuova Simonelli T3, and for their House Blend, the grinder Compak E10 master; and for the Single Origin is Mahlkonig Tanzania.

The Beans

A mix of beans from Guatemala. Brazil and Ethiopia all roasted in Hong Kong specially for NOT Specialty Coffee. The Single Origin Beans are sourced from Namusairo and roasted depending on the bean quality; to get them just right!

The Package

The Facebook page of NOT Specialty Coffee notes that they are too lazy to be a specialty coffee house; I like the irony as these guys are most certainly into the coffee and the beans.

My latte came in a clear glass, much like you’d expect in an Australian cafe and had a mild aroma that had hints of caramel. The overall flavour of the coffee was quite mild too, but it was extremely robust and very creamy, very sweet. The temperature of the milk, its texture and consistency was amazing, and really made up for the mild flavour of the blend. The caramel colour of the late was really attractive too, I did dig this coffee, but would have preferred just a little more of a kick; perhaps a double shot would have been the go.

My takeaway was identical to the dine in coffee, which was great from a consistency viewpoint, but again, I couldn’t help think that it needed to be a little stronger. Reflecting back, perhaps the the addition of some high quality robusta beans to the blend may have given just that little bit of an extra kick.